Soliloquy of the Bookcase

I might be the mere skeleton of a pine
with wood the shade of wet sand,
the whorls in my grain like flames.
I might wear the armour of a knight,
be small scaffolding filled with dreams.
Sometimes, you overload me,
and weighed down like a mule,
I'm all aching limbs. Still,
I sustain the words in which you
take solace on those winter nights.
Nectar of scholars, I hold ideas -
in the future, I may distill the concepts
of science not discovered this millenia.
I reflect a rainbow of subjects
but I'm only the stem not the stamen.
I am the last resting place
of the drunken, desolate poet
but I am not a heartbeat in ink.
I am the grave, see my lacing of crosses,
each a deathplace of eternal life.
I could hold the words of the world,
a thousand secrets and sentences,
if you let me.Some of you, bury
your sons untended in my valleys
for decades, I never forget them.
I am father to your orphans,
the unloved and lost,
the used and abused, the torn to bits.
I stand broad shouldered to heaven,
like Atlas, I hold your world.

Reviews

[marielondon]

Wow. There is no doubt you were born to be a poet.

[OT]

what a name! this is absolutely stunning! I loved it - the tone of it - the voice - the idea in itself - "I am father to your orphans" - only to take and nurture - to hold - "like atlas, I hold your world" - you're a wonderful writer! nice!

[Rossen]

Never will I see a bookcase the same way again...
this knocked my socks off!!
a classic to be~

[Donald Meikle]

We outgrew the bookcase. Most are in boxes, stacked in the two-car garage. Every word Louis LaMour ever wrote. A collection of sci fi to die for. Luckily this head of mine can recreate it all with a good glass of wine. I am happily delighted with this work Sel. You are still burning past the barricades without burning bridges. You go girl!

[emmajoy]

Incredible! Somehow, you've turned your bookcase into a heart holding everything necessary for the mind and all else to survive. Such cleverness, such creativity in all of your lines, for me, especially,

'I reflect a rainbow of subjects ~ but I'm only the stem not the stamen. ~ I am the last resting place ~ of the drunken, desolate poet ~ but I am not a heartbeat in ink.'.

You, Sel, have a poet's heart ..

[Siddhartha]

As an inexorable bibliophile I can relate very deeply with this poem of yours. You have done a tremendous job in portraying the humble bookshelf and its unconditional and selfless friendship. It might only be the skeleton of a pine but it holds the world for sure. A captivating write this, one of your very best!

[Neva Flores Smith - Cha..]

I personally have more books than clothes so I have a dear love for my bookcases that hold my heart and now I hold your poem dear. Wonderful!

[George Korolog]

I really like the style of your work. Don't see the Jimmy Hendrix in here, but this is very good.

[Lizy Coale]

This is amazing! I had to read it about three times to understand the beauty of it. For me, that's a good thing though :D

[V.B.]

You can usually tell that a girl is about to impress you after you read one of her reviews on someone else's poem and realize it was more poetic than some of the things you tried to pass off as poems in the first place.

It seems you are hardly an exception to that rule.

I don't even have a bookcase, but I suddenly feel like I am missing out if they whisper this kind of stuff with any regularity. One thing though--did you mean "Soliloquy?"